


Under the Knife

by TimeLadyoftheSith



Series: Prompt Generator Insanity [4]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Colormayfade Prompt Generator, F/M, Human AU, Soulmarks, Surgery, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 05:42:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeLadyoftheSith/pseuds/TimeLadyoftheSith
Summary: Almost everyone has a Soulmark, and it is very rare for someone to be born without one. Not everybody born with one wants one. The idea of some all knowing machine dictating their lives is repulsive to some people. While Soulmark removal isn't illegal, it is so frowned upon in society, leaving it to be done in dark offices after hours, for insane prices. She doesn't care. She's saved four years for this freedom.





	1. Chapter 1

At birth, every newborn's finger is pricked by a machine. The machine is tied into the Eye of Harmony. It gazes into their future, analyzing the twists and turns of their timelines. It unravels all that is, was, and ever could be. It searches through the vortex to find their perfect match, their soulmate or soulmates. Then it gives them a unique mark.

Every soulmate contains a portion of their mark. When they touch for the first time, their souls unite and complete the mark. Most people met soulmates from their own lifestyles. It was exceedingly rare to find someone better or worse off in life than the other match.

Rose Marion Tyler hated it. Everything in her life was dictated to her, either by her mother or by society. Rules upon rules, everything she was allowed to do or should do. When she was younger, she would trace the intricate swirl of what looked like half of a galaxy wrapped around half an hourglass, fantasizing about marrying an astronautics . Then she grew older, and watched as her friends and neighbors ended up stuck in the same cycle of life that that they were raised in.

Rose didn't want her love life to be dictated to her without her consent. She wanted to choose love for her own, like the rare people born markless. They had the freedom to be whoever they wanted, marry whomever they wanted. It was a fleeting fantasy until she turned eighteen.

She had been on her break at work, sipping her coffee, when she overheard a conversation. A guy was talking about how his friend had gotten his soul-mark removed. It had been expensive, a surgery conducted totally off the books in a plastic surgeon's office. Finally, Rose had a choice of her own.

It took four years of saving and scrimping before she had the five thousand pounds necessary for the procedure. She had spent hours pouring over exactly how to get it done. She simply had to go in, under the guise of needing something else worked on, and ask for the twin heart procedure.

So, on her twenty-third birthday, Rose found herself seated on an exam table, waiting for the doctor. She shifted in the thin material of the gown, staring at the pictures on the wall. She had told the receptionist she was looking into liposuction in her thighs and stomach, because that was the most common thing women her age got worked on.

The door cracked open, and in stepped a man. He was bloody perfect. His rich hair was ruffled up into the perfect, just rolled out of bed look. Square glasses rested on his nose, illuminating his warm brown eyes. He was slender, fitted into a perfectly tailored brown pinstripe suit tucked under a white medical coat. "Hello Miss Tyler. I'm Doctor James Noble." His smile was Hollywood bright, though his teeth weren't celebrity straight. He held out his hand in greeting.

"Hello Doctor." Rose couldn't help but smile back, although she didn't shake his hand. She avoided touching people at all costs. Even though she knew the possibility of this thirty year old man being her soulmate was basically impossible, she didn't want to risk it.

The Doctor's smile never faded, as he closed the door and pressed the button to let the occupied light outside come on. He settled into his chair and keyed into his computer. "I see you've already completed your prescreening questionnaire and your blood work came back perfect." He clicked a few buttons and looked up. "So you're interested in getting liposuction, correct."

Rose wanted to say something, but she swallowed her words and nodded.

"Well then." He stood and washed his hands in the sink and snapped on a pair of gloves. "Go ahead, stand up for me and open your gown, let's have a look." He pulled a black marker from his pocket and waited.

She slid from the table and began untying the gown. She was wearing a plain beige bra and panties underneath, but it was still a bit awkward. Rose closed her eyes and shrugged the gown off to the table.

Doctor Noble made a strangled noise, but by the time she opened her eyes, he was stone faced again. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Well." His voice sounded a bit higher, and he cleared his throat. "No offense, Miss Tyler, but I don't see anything that surgery could possibly improve. You have a body women twice your age pay me to nip and tuck to create."

At the compliment, Rose felt her stomach flutter a bit. She worked hard to maintain her body, after all, she had just graduated from the university by being on the gymnastics team. Rose looked down at her toned thighs, seeing the mark stare up at her, and her resolve snapped back into place. She met his eyes and set her mouth into a line. "I'm actually here for the double heart procedure."

The marker fell from his hands, and Doctor Noble made the strangled noise again. He bent low, scooped the marker up, and spoke. "You're here for what?" He looked like he'd been punched in the gut.

"The double heart procedure." Rose reiterated, snagging up the gown and tying it firmly. "I've been saving for years."

Pain roared across his features, then he settled his face back into a look of professionalism. "It's five thousand pounds, off the books, after hours." His formerly friendly tone had gone cold.

"I have the cash. How does it work?" She climbed back up on the exam table and fiddled with the tie on her gown.

"Given the location of your..." He drew a breath. "Soulmark, I'll give you a spinal block similar to an epidural. Then I'll go in with a scalpel and cut off the top layers of the epidermis. Once they are gone, I'll use a laser to burn away the underlying tissue so it doesn't resurface." Doctor Noble adjusted his glasses and sat back down at his computer, avoiding her eyes. "Then I'll take skin from your buttocks and imbed it over the surgery site, similar to treating and burn, and will heal with minimal scarring. There may be some minor nerve damage to the upper layers, since I'll have to free hand it without my surgical team, but it won't be too noticeable."

"When can it be done?" Rose picked at her nails, unable to look at him. Everything inside her body screamed this was wrong, but she ignored it. She was her own person, no stupid machine would tell her who she could love forever.

"Tomorrow is Saturday, come in at eight am sharp. It'll take about three hours to perform, and about four hours of recovery before you can walk." He began typing, but paused before speaking again. "Look at me Rose."

Hearing her name spoken so painful and cold made her look up. His eyes burned into hers, like he was gazing into her mind. "Are you sure you want this?"

Rose swallowed, feeling the judgement and disapproval coming off of him in waves. She took a breath. "I've never been more sure of anything."

"Tomorrow then." He was practically growling, and Rose jumped when he ripped his glasses off and looked away from her. "Go on!" He hissed. "Get out!"

Rose jumped off the bed and dashed into the tiny changing room that led into the hall, as she turned to shut the door saw tears pouring down his face like a flood. She pushed the door until it clicked shut, and flinched as she heard what sounded like his keyboard being pushed to the floor with a crash.

She quickly redressed and dashed from the office. She hailed a cab and trembled in the backseat. It wasn't until she was safely tucked in her room, that she realized Doctor John Noble must have recently lost his soulmate. What else would make someone react like that to a request they did all the time?

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Jackie was still sound asleep when Rose snuck out the door and caught a cab at seven fifteen. She had gotten an email from Doctor Noble instructing her to not drink anything but water, to get adequate rest, and to wear a skirt or loose sweat pants to void rubbing the bandages when the procedure was done.

She sat anxiously in the back seat of the cab, playing with the knee length black skirt she had worn. When the cabbie dropped her off, the office building was dark. Her phone pinged, as soon as she reached the glass doors, and she opened an email from Doctor Noble.

8,5,1,5,9,3

First right, seventh door on the left.

Rose furrowed her brow until she saw the keypad by the door. Her fingers trembled as she pressed the buttons, and the lock clicked open. She quickly pulled on the handle and stepped in. The snick of the lock sliding home again echoed through the empty hall. Steeling herself, she strode purposefully to her destination.

The seventh door was marked with a sign that read "Surgical Suite Three." She turned the handle and stepped in.

Doctor Noble was waiting, organizing blue sterile packages on a tray. His suit and coat had been switched for royal blue scrubs, and his hair was hidden under a surgical cap.

"I'm here." Rose spoke, trying to keep her voice even.

"I know." He didn't turn to face her. "Strip down, leave your bra on but take off your underwear, and sit on the table." His voice was low and flat. It sent chills down her spine as she toed out of her flats and pulled her skirt and shirt off.

She climbed up onto the surgical bed, shivering at the cold metal beneath her. The smell of antiseptic was strong, and it stung her nose and coated her tongue. Finally, Doctor Noble turned to face her, and his mouth was hidden behind a mask.

His eyes, though, were visible behind clear surgical glasses, they were pained. Rose wanted to comfort him, to apologize for the loss he had suffered, but she couldn't find the words.

He was silent, as he stuck pads to her body and turned on a machine beside the beside the bed. She was so nervous that she didn't notice the care he took not to touch her skin, and she watched her heartbeat race across the monitor. Wordlessly, he wrapped her arm in a blood pressure and took her vitals.

When he walked behind her, he finally spoke. "I'm going to do the anesthesia now. You'll feel something cold while I swab the area. Then you'll feel pressure and some pain. Try not to jerk or move."

Rose clenched her fingers around the metal bed, holding back a shiver as a cold wetness brushed across her lower back. After a moment, there was a sharp pinch followed by immense pressure. She fought to hold still as the pain grew, and gave way to blissful numbness in her rear. She felt his bare wrist slip against her spine as he pulled back, and warmth shot from the touch into her veins. It raced the numbness, reaching her thigh just a second before she lost feeling.

Rose shook it off, closing her eyes and breathing. She heard him hiss and then choke back a sob behind her, and there was a tingle of something hitting the floor. "Are you okay?"

"Just dropped the needle cap." He gasped. "Don't worry about it. Lay back. I need to insert the catheter."

Rose obeyed, lowering herself to the table just as she lost the control of the rest of her legs. She closed her eyes at the bright light above her, and tried to get accustomed to feeling legless. She saw, rather than felt, him spread her legs and begin feeding what looked like a tube into the apex of her thighs. There was an uncomfortable feeling, like running a tongue over a numb lip, for just a moment, then it subsided.

It wasn't until he walked away, that she noticed he was favoring his right leg, but after a few steps he stopped. Then he began scrubbing his hands up to his elbows. Rose began reciting poetry in her mind, to take her anxiety at being under the knife away. She was halfway through Emily Dickenson's "Because I did Not Stop for Death" when he pulled on a pair of sterile gloves, and pushed his tray of equipment to the table.

"Can you feel this?" He asked, poking her thigh in various places with a needle.

"Not a thing." Rose breathed in response.

"Brilliant. I don't want." His voice cracked behind the mask, and he took a noticeable breath. "I don't want this too hurt you, Rose." He looked at her briefly, and she swore she saw tears in his eyes. Then he blinked, and they were gone. She chalked it up to the light on the glasses lenses.

Slowly, he opened the first bundle of instruments and drew out a scalpel and a tube of iodine. Rose watched as he tried to keep his hands steady to crack open the sponge. Brown liquid coated it, and he lowered it to her thigh. He scrubbed over and around her Soulmark, but she felt nothing except the ball of nerves in her gut. She had never had anything more severe than a shot before, and the idea of going under the knife was a bit terrifying.

The Doctor let the iodine sit for a moment, then he picked up the scalpel again. Rose held her breath as the silver blade twinkled under the blinding light, descending lower to her thigh. A shimmer caught her eye, and Rose watched as a tear dripped down his cheek and disappear under his mask. She finally spoke. "I'm sorry that you lost your Soulmate." The knife paused millimeters above her skin.

"I haven't lost her." He whispered. "She just doesn't want me." His voice was one of utter despair, and Rose's heart jerked. She heard the irregular bleep on the monitor, but ignored it.

"Don't watch." He instructed. "Unless you don't mind blood."

"Blood doesn't scare me." Rose breathed, and the knife slid home.

She didn't feel it, but her eyes went reflexively down. Her heart stopped and the monitor gave a squeal. Even coated in iodine and blood, she could see that it was completed. The black and white mark was prominent under the liquid coating it, and everything made sense.

Doctor James Noble was her soulmate. He was crying over her. He was sacrificing his own happiness to see her be free. The blade scraped away a bit of the skin, and he wiped it on the cloth he had draped over her belly. Then he lowered it again.

"STOP!" Rose didn't realize she was crying until the scalpel sliced into her again. "Please! James! Stop!" Her own tears burned across her face as she pushed herself up on her elbows.

"Rose." He scraped another layer away and wiped the blade clean. "If this is what you need to be happy, then I'll give it to you."

Rose's heart was shattering as she watched him raise the scalpel again. "I don't want to do it! I've changed my mind! Please." Her whole body was quaking from the force of her sobs. From the waist down she was numb, but her torso burned like a sun. She finally understood. She finally realized what she needed. The blade clattered to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

Rose couldn't stop crying as James stood frozen beside her. Blood stained the gloved hands he held trembling above her legs. He stared at her mark, his own tears flowing unashamedly down his cheeks. "I need." His voice was suddenly frantic, cracking in a high tone as he turned to the tray. "I need to treat the wound."

Rose collapsed back on the table, wiping her eyes. Disgust with herself, with what she had almost forced him to do, surged through her. Bile threatened to burst into her mouth and she swallowed it back. She heard packages being ripped open, but she couldn't lift her head to watch. She had so many things to say, but her words stuck in her throat, overwhelmed by her crying.

It felt like eternity, before she felt a discomfort between her thighs again, and the sound of something slightly filled with liquid tossed into a plastic bag. She opened her eyes, blinking back more tears, in time to feel James pull her up from behind and remove whatever it was in her spine.

Her leg was covered expertly with a bandage, but she still couldn't feel anything. She opened her dry mouth to speak again, but he laid her back down and rushed from the room.

Rose panicked again, afraid he had run away from her, until she heard the squeak of gurney wheels. She watched as he pushed a freshly made bed into the room and parked it next to her. He locked the wheels, lowered the rails, and hurried over to her pile of clothes. "What are you doing?"

She managed to gasp past the sobs, and she watched as he delicately worked her panties back over her legs and shifted them into place. Then, to her utter amazement, James lifted her ever so gently into his arms and moved her to the new bed.

Their eyes locked, and Rose could see the fear and hesitation warring against joy and love. He was still wearing his mask and cap, so every other feature was hidden from view.

His now gloveless fingers fisted his scrub pants, as he stared at her. Never before in her life had she ever felt such a powerful urge to feel fingers on her skin. "Touch me." She whispered, lifting a hand.

James surged forward, clasping her delicate fingers in both of his palms. Where they touched radiated heat up her arm. She felt it seep into her body, deep into her chest, and her world stopped revolving around the sun. "Let me see your face." She murmured.

James ripped the mask and cap away, and his lips were parted as he panted for breath. Guilt surged through Rose as she took in the the harsh pink of where his teeth had cut into his lips. The pain she had put him through snapped what little hesitation she had left. "Hold me?"

The sun burst to life in his eyes, and his worried frown gave way to a smile of absolute joy. He scrambled onto the bed on her unbandaged side, and pulled her into his arms. "Oh, Rose." His breath tickled her hair, and his heart pounded through his chest against her cheek.

"I'm sorry." Tears broke free again, and Rose clung to him. She reached up to cup his face with one hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" but she had meant it. Until she knew what this level of connection felt like, this unwavering sensation of feeling needed, of feeling like she was home, she had meant to go through with it. "I'm sorry, James. I'm so, so sorry."

"Shhhh." James squeezed her firmly. "You stopped. Thank the stars you stopped. I was so scared." He kissed her hair, sighing in relief. "I would have done it, if you didn't stop me."

"I know." Rose pulled back to meet his eyes. "I understand." She was drawn into the chocolate depths behind the glasses. "I'm so sorry."

"You're forgiven." James stroked her tear stained cheek with a thumb. "I can't believe I finally found you." His voice was soft, full of wonder and adoration.

Rose knew exactly what was in his voice, because she felt it too. It burned inside her chest. "I can't believe I almost gave you up." Unable to contain herself any longer, she surged forward and pressed her lips to his. Barely noticeable through the slowly fading numbness, her Soulmark blazed in response.

~*Nine Months Later*~

"You look like a goddess." Jackie gasped from the cushioned chair in front of her.

Rose grinned, turning around to look at her back in the mirror. The dress was cinched tightly, accentuating her curves in white silk and lace. She turned back to look at the front, the way the material was pleated across her torso drew attention to the natural curves from her bosom to her waist. It fit so perfectly, that alterations weren't even needed.

"I think this is it." Tears stung her eyes. She still couldn't believe this was happening to her. Rose Tyler, the woman who had hated the idea of destiny was getting married. For the millionth time, she gazed in awe at the diamond ring on her finger. She was so lost in the feeling, that she barely felt Jackie untie the dress and ask her to step out.

Rose swallowed a sniffle as Jackie hung the dress up on the hanger and turned to her. Suddenly, her mother frowned. "What happened to your Mark?" She gasped.

Rose didn't need to look down and see the three patchy scars that blurred the tattoo like design. She knew they were there, and she had tortured herself with guilt over them so many times. James didn't mind them, in fact he loved them. It was what drew them together, what changed her mind and allowed herself to love and be loved.

She smiled softly at her mum. She had never told her the story. "Just an accident. A stupid mistake, Mum." Jackie stared at her in confusion. "It's okay though. James fixed me right up."

"Right!" Jackie beamed and clapped her hands. "I'm so proud of you Rose. For years I thought you'd be stupid enough to try and get it removed."

Rose bit back a sigh and turned away to pull on her clothes. She could never tell her mother the truth, but that was fine. Everything was fine. She was engaged and James had sworn off doing anyone else's Mark removal. In fact, if she could convince Jackie to hurry, she could beat her fiancé home. That was all that mattered to her. She just needed to get home and feel his fingers in hers. James' touch always washed away her guilt, and she loved him for that. 


End file.
